New Start
by TfpUnicron
Summary: Life has been dull for Kilie, but as for Neal life is terrifying. When these unlikely friends meet they share their customs, their past, and their scars.
1. Chapter1

**This will be my first Portal story. It'll take place after the first game. I'm not sure how long the chapters will be so you'll just have to wait and see. Enjoy!**

The neurotoxin has been activated. But that's impossible. The cores on her prevented her from doing that. Panic surged through his wiring. What was happening?

"Come on, Neal!" his comrade shouted, "We gotta see what's happening!"

He zoomed down the management rail, leaving him behind.

No no no he didn't like being alone!

Alarms blared through the facility. He zoomed after him at the sounds.

"Where are we going?!" Neal called to him.

"Something's going on in her chamber!"

"Do you think it's a test subject?"

"No way! Maybe a core just fell off or something."

His "eyelids" narrowed into a worried expression over his soft yellow optic. If a core fell off, then who would put it back on? There was only one human in the entire facility, as far as Neal knew.

It took a while to get to her chamber. They slowly crept over to the wall, opened the panel and peaked in.

Neal noticed that a couple cores were missing from her frame. She had a rocket turret underneath her firing at something. He followed the path of the turret's aim.

"Woah", his friend said, "it _is _a test subject."

She was standing in front of a portal that lead to the other portal positioned behind GLaDOS. Within a second Neal figured out what she was doing.

"She's knocking off the cores!" Neal exclaimed in a whisper.

"Will that even work?" the other asked.

"We'll see." Neal watched with concern and wonder.

The turret fired a few times and the test subject moved out of the way. The rockets went through the portal and hit GLaDOS from behind. They stunned her and knocked off the last core. The girl grabbed it and dumped it into the garbage disposal.

The entire facility rumbled with fury.

"Uh", his friend said, "what's happening?"

"I don't know."

The test subject looked anxious as well.

Explosions sounded through the entire facility. Growing closer and louder...

Then darkness.


	2. Chapter2

_Can we go home now? _Kilie thought as she sat in her desk slumped over an open notebook. World history class was such a bore. Her friend, Javier, was also very bored in his desk next to her. She glanced at the clock. _8:44. _She groaned. It was still first block! She just wanted to get back to the workshop to work on her projects.

"You wanna head to the scrapyard and see what we can find after school?" Javier whispered in his soft Spanish accent.

"Sure", Kilie replied.

"No talking while I'm giving a lecture", the teacher said, not to them in particular but she was glaring at them over her pink-rimmed-grandma glasses.

The bell rang and she stuffed her notebook in her messenger bag so fast she didn't realize the notebook tore a bit. She put her headphones in and blasted Paradise City.

The day wore on, slow as ever. She constantly tapped her foot every minute of every class.

Finally the bell rang to go home. She ran out to grab her bike, Javier close behind.

"Race ya!" she called to her friend as she pedaled off.

"No fair, I'm not ready!" Javier shouted as scrambled to get on.

She stood on the pedals and lifted her head in the air, closing her eyes. When she opened them again she saw the sun peeking in and out from behind the trees. She felt relieved to be free from school. The expectations, the time management, and the memorizing was just too much. She shouldn't need to reach her goals within a specific time range, some goals need more time then others. She never knows when a project will be complete, all she knows it will get done.

They turned onto a lot with 8 foot shelves, piled with so much stuff. Old toasters, fridges, statues, signs, and other things were mostly on the shelves.

"I won!" Kilie exclaimed as she parked her bike.

"Well, you got a head start!" Javier replied.

"Eh I still won", she said.

"Whatever", he said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey guys!" Dave called to them, "I've got some new stuff that you'd like."

"Cool! We'll look at it", said Kilie.

Dave was the person who owned the lot, he bought and sold a lot of old things that aren't made anymore.

"Ki, I'm going over to toasters", said Javier.

"Of course you are", she said. Javier had a weird obsession for old toasters and Ki had no idea why. She went over to her favorite section. This section usually had broken stuff that could be fixed, all the way from little toy cars to real cars.

After wandering around for a bit, she hadn't found anything worth fixing. Then something caught her eye.

It was a cream color metal ball covered with dirt. She walked over to it and rolled it over. There was a large black screen that looked like an eye in between two handle bars. She looked down at her hands realized that it was soot and ash, not dirt. She brushed her hands on her jeans (which were already filthy with grease from rummaging around in the engine of a black and yellow 1977 Camaro).

She took out a grease rag from her back pocket and wiped off the soot. It revealed a strange symbol that looked like the shudders on a camera and the word "Aperture". Whatever that means. At this point her curiosity was peaked. She turned it over on its side and moved things around inside it. Definitely something to fix.

"Find anything?" Javier asked behind her. He had an old pink toaster tucked under one arm and a blue toaster in the other.

"Yeah, do you know what this is?" she said. He walked closer to have a better look.

"No le sé", he answered in his native language, which means "I don't know".

"Hm. I'll ask Dave", she said as she picked it up by its handles and walked over to Dave.

"Hey, Dave. Do you know what this is?" she asked.

"No clue. It's yours if you want it", he replied.

"How much?"

"Please, keep it as a gift", he said.

"Awesome! Thanks!" said Ki.

"The toasters too. I have way too many of those things."

Ki had never seen Javier happier. Ki's phone started ringing and answered it with lightning speed.

"Hello?"

"**Hurry home. I need someone to watch the eggs while I go to the store**", her mom said over the phone.

_Oh right! We're hatching eggs this year. Completely forgot_ she thought.

"Okay, I'll be right over. Can Javier come too?" she asked.

"**Sure. I'll see you later.**"

"Okay, bye", she said just before hanging up.

"If you find out what that is let me know", said Dave.

"Will do. Let's go", she motioned to Javier.

She plopped the metal ball into the basket on her bike and strapped it in with bungee cords, Javier did the same with his toasters. Soon, they were on the two-lane roads of their small town.

"What do you think it is?" Javier asked.

"Absolutely no idea", she replied, "some kind of security camera or something, I don't know. And what does 'Aperture' mean?"

"Brand name maybe", Javier shrugged.

The bumpy roads made the ball rattle like a hundred dollars worth of pennies in a clothes dryer. The rattling kept her from her thoughts.

_That thing must **really **be broken _she thought. It made her excited to have a challenging project.

Just as they pulled into her neighborhood they saw Kilie's mom pulling out of the driveway. Her mom rolled down the window to talk.

"Hey, kids", she said.

"Hola, Mrs. Chell", Javier waved shyly.

"I put new water in the incubator so the eggs should be fine fo-" she cut off as she saw the metal ball in the basket. She went pale, Ki could see fear in her eyes.

"Uh, mom?" Ki asked worriedly, "Are you okay?"

"Uh um, y-yeah I-I'm fine", Chell stammered, looking down.

"Okay then, see ya", said Ki.

"Bye", her mom said just before driving off.

"That was weird", Javier remarked.

"I know. I'd never seen her react like that" said Ki, "something about this thing scared her."

"Well, lets go find out what it is!" Javier exclaimed.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay."

They parked their bikes in the garage and headed inside. They grabbed snacks and went out to the workshop. Ki set the ball down on the table while Javier layed out newspapers on the floor, grabbed the rubbing alcohol, and started scrubbing his toasters. The unmistakable smell of the alcohol clung to the air like claws tipped with venom while she worked.

She started by taking off the plating of the ball. Underneath there were a bunch of wires, motors, chip boards, and other things that were just sitting inside not connected to anything. The frame was mostly intact.

"Jeez, what happened to you?" she muttered under breath.

She began taking out the loose parts and organizing them. She worked for three hours. Her mind was clear and focused while she reconnected wires and chip boards. After she was sure everything was in the right place, she put all the plating back on. Now she just needed a way to get power to it.

"Your mom has been gone a while", said Javier, startling Kilie. She had completely forgotten that he was there, tinkering with his toasters.

"Yeah", she said, "it shouldn't take that long to get groceries."

She looked around the workshop for some kind of cord that could fit into the port above the screen of the ball. She found an aux cord that connected to an amp and a guitar or bass. She modified it to fit and plug into the wall. She jabbed it into the port and waited. She sighed, about to give up. A few minutes pass. Ki rested her head on her arms.

"_Power up: initiated_", a sudden autonomic voice said. Kilie jumped. Javier froze. Nothing happened for a long moment. They were silent, trading glances with each other. The lights flickered a little. They waited in anticipation.

"_Power up: complete_", the voice said. Lights came on, they were a soft, comfortable yellow arranged in a circle. The metal sheets drooped over the optic and blinked a few times. It seemed to groan, not like metal when it's put under pressure, but like a real _human _type groan. Then it began to _speak._

"W-where...where am I? What happened? Where am I?! What's going on?! Where is she?!"

"Woah woah hey! Calm down! There's nothing to be afraid of!" Kilie tried calming it down. It just stared at her with a shaking optic. She gently placed her hands the ball. She could've sworn it was shuddering with fear. Well, "he", considering how sentient it seemed.

"What are you?" she breathed. A million questions ran through her head. What was he? Where did he come from? Was he from the future? Some kind of government secret? Something inside her shifted. Her stomach turned with excitement and curiosity. All she could do was wait for an answer.

**Whew! This chapter was LOOOOONG! Hope you enjoyed! **


	3. Chapter3

He was still really nervous, even after introductions. He had no idea how he got here. He was on the surface, away from the depths of Aperture. He didn't know if he should be curious or terrified. Perhaps curious, considering he was safe.

He was sitting on a couch with Javier and Kilie in the living rooom of their home when he heard a jangling noise coming from the front door.

"Mom's home!" Kilie exclaimed just before she darted around the corner.

_What's a mom? _Neal thought.

Kilie came back while clinging to the arm of another human as if she was dragging her. The woman was tall and strong. Her brown eyes struck Neal as if he'd seen them before. Her face went pale when she layed eyes on him. She looked down at the floor and went back to the kitchen.

"Mom?" Kilie said, genuine concern in her voice. He looked up to Javier who was also concerned and confused. He looked down to Neal and shrugged.

Shouting came from the woman. "No, Kilie! You don't know what that thing is or what it has done!" Does she know about Aperture? About _her_? How could she? No one escapes. Except...

"Mom, just give him a chance! He's harmless! If there were weapons of any kind I'd see them! Please, Mom", said Kilie. A deep sigh came from the mom.

"Fine. But know that I will never be friends with it", she said.

They came back around the corner and Ki's mother shyly walked over to Neal.

"Javier, it's getting late. Why don't I drive you home?" she asked.

"No gracias. I can manage", he said, "It's right down the road."

"Okay then. See ya later", she said.

"Bye. I'll see you tomorrow", said Ki just before he walked out the door.

"So, what's your name?" Ki's mom asked.

"Neal", he replied, "You?"

"Chell."

"I really feel like I've seen you before", he said.

"You might have", she said, pulling her hair back in a ponytail.

His optic widened. He couldn't believe it. It's her. The one that took down GLaDOS!

"It's _you_", he said, "You were fighting _her_."

"Mom, who's he talking about?" asked Kilie.

"I'm gonna go grab something out of the attic." And with that she left and walked up the stairs.

A few minutes later she came back down with a cardboard box set on top of a _companion cube_!

"I don't know why I kept this stuff", she said as set the cube and sat next to them on the couch, "This is called a companion cube. It hums a sweet tune when you feel alone."

She grabbed the box and opened it, revealing long fall boots and an Aperture jump suit. She then began to explain to Kilie what Aperture was and about GLaDOS. She listened intently as her mother told her the story of how she escaped.

"Promise me, Ki, that you will never go to that place", she said when she finished.

"I promise", she responded, "What about Neal?"

He looked to Chell hopefully. By the sound of it she hated Aperture, and so did he.

"Well", she said after a moment, "if he's going to stay he'll need a management rail."

Ki jumped up and cheered, startling Neal.

"Now get some sleep. It's a school night", said Chell.

"Okay", said Ki, and with that she walked up the stairs.

"Are you good sitting on the couch all night or..."

"I think I'll be okay", he replied.

"Okay, see you in the morning", she said getting up and turning the lights off.

And with that he was left alone in the dark. At least he had a place where he was welcome.


End file.
